The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun investigating allegations of whether construction workers working on a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Arizona have been illegally dumping waste into Mexico, where the subsequent metal is being sold on the black market, the Associated Press (AP) reported Oct. 11.
Metal barriers filled with concrete were previously used to demarcate the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is overseeing 212 miles of new wall construction between Arizona and Mexico.
Workers demolishing the older structures to make way for a new, taller wall, have allegedly been giving the discarded metal to Mexicans who then sell it to scrapyards in the city of Sonoyta, Mexico, which is located across the border from Lukeville, Arizona.
“We ask for [the metal] and they toss it our way. We then pick it up and sell it. We don’t have a job because of the coronavirus in Mexico, so that’s where we make money to support our families,” Julio Espinoza, one of the individuals collecting and selling the scrap, told the Arizona Republic.
The volume of construction waste that has been sent over the border is unknown, but dumping C&D waste across international lines is illegal in the U.S.
A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers said the agency is assessing the allegations of illegal dumping by one of its contractors.